B$Z: Winners Announced For TransWorld SKATEboarding Awards

Winners Announced For TransWorld SKATEboarding Awards

TransWorld SKATEboarding just announced this year's TWS Award recipients tonight in Southern California as skateboarding stars came out in force and packed out the Avalon Hollywood. Veteran emcees Brian Schaefer and Lizard King presided over the biggest night in skateboarding as the best skaters of 2011 took to the stage to receive their coveted awards.

Starting out the night, former pro and longtime industry leader Don Brown accepted this year's Eric Stricker Memorial Award for his continual contribution to the skateboarding industry for over twenty years.

Next up, Best Rookie, went to Sk8mafia's Wes Kremer–dropping two epic video parts and landing a TransWorld SKATEboarding cover in 2011– the award couldn't have gone to a better rookie pro. With a spontaneous skate style reminiscent of Tom Penny, and the best attitude around, this guy continues to spill out talent for days.Best Video Part went to Nyjah Huston for his mind-blowing Rise & Shine solo part, released on iTunes 11.11.11. Nyjah truly raised the bar this year with his enormous handrails, technical rail skating, and cheating death with some seriously heavy slams.

Nike SB's SB Chronicles, Vol. 1 took home Best Video. With an eclectic mix of skaters from Wieger Van Wageningen to Grant Taylor, and Jason Hernandez' high production value, this video hands down couldn't be beat.

Best Team was a no brainer as Real proved themselves with their huge stack of incredible talent this year, putting out a five-year-in-the-making video in 2011, and Dennis Busenitz winning the Tampa Pro.

Grant Taylor won Best Transition for the second time in his career (first time in 2010). Jason Dill said it best, "Grant is the greatest skater on the face of the Earth right now."

Accepting his second award of the night, Nyjah Huston got up on stage again, this time to receive the honors of Best Street Skater. With two TransWorld covers and multiple interviews in the magazine, in addition to his amazing part in Rise & Shine, Nyjah's year was undeniable.

As if two awards for the night wasn't enough, Nyjah Huston brought his tally to three with the acceptance of the only award not chosen by the TWS staff, but rather by the readers of the magazine and skateboarding.com– the New Era Readers' Choice Award. Three awards in one night has only ever happened to one other skater, Guy Mariano, who back in 2008, also won in the exact same three categories.

Directly following the awards, the films began, starting out with TransWorld's 2012 Skate & Create video winner: Skate Wars by Creature. Before TWS' The Cinematographer Project film would take over, Ohio native Dan Mizicko premiered his winning entry, Skate Harvest. The crowd was blown away as A-list pros and full-length parts rolled out as TWS' legendary filmmaker Jon Holland showcased thirteen of the best filmmakers in skateboarding in the latest TransWorld SKATEboarding film, The Cinematographer Project. The film included over an hour of top skating and filming from the industry's best. When all was said and done, this was the biggest and best Awards night yet. Congratulations to all the winners!

Check out more updates, photos, and video footage from the amazing show at skateboarding.com. The 14th Annual TransWorld SKATEboarding Awards Presented By New Era is proud to be supported by additional sponsors, including Red Bull, KRÜ 82 Vodka, and Aerial 7.